“You also have no reason to look into our activities again, right?” I toss a twenty on the table to cover our drinks. Mike reaches for his wallet, eyebrows raised, but I wave him away. “My treat.”
He smiles a thank you and then nods. “From this moment on, you are the FBI’s business, and hell if I’m going to mix myself up with those assholes.”
I barely stifle a laugh. “Aren’t you all on the same team? The feds?’”
Mike Thomas tosses back the last swig of his drink and grimaces. “That shows how much you know.”
He pats the pocket with the thumb drive, tips his head, and walks out of the hotel at an easy, casual pace. As soon as he’s gone, a familiar shadow sidles up next to me.
“Tell me we aren’t staying here for dinner,” Bella says, sliding her hand down my thigh. “I mean, it’s a bit nostalgic and all, but I’m over hotel restaurants.”
I turn towards her and catch her red-stained lips with mine. She tastes like vanilla and a dinner mint, and I want to skip dinner and eat her instead. But I promised. Her father is out of the hospital and resting comfortably at home, and I promised Bella a night on the town. A normal dinner date like a normal couple. After I met with the CIA agent, of course.
“No, we aren’t eating here,” I say, pulling away and looking down at the figure she cuts in her dress. It’s black and slinky, clinging to all of the curves I love so much before flaring out around her thighs. She looks like a classic Hollywood starlet, her black hair curled at her temples and pinned above her ear. I reach out and pinch a lock of her hair in my finger. “I have a reservation, but suddenly I’m not hungry.”
Bella stands up and moves away from me quickly, wagging a finger. “No. This is not going to devolve into sex before we even get to dinner. I’ve had the carnal side of Yuri. I want to see Yuri the gentleman.”
I close the distance between her, pulling her body against mine, letting the warmth of her sink into me, and bend down to nip at her nose. “What if the gentleman side doesn’t exist?”
Her eyebrow raises slightly, and she stretches up on her toes until her lips brush against mine. Then, before I can pull away, she bites my lower lip between her teeth, hard. I jerk away from her with a yelp, and she gives me a deadly smile. “Then my ladylike side will fail to show up tonight.”
Even with my lip throbbing, dammit if she isn’t sexy. I wrap an arm around her waist and lead her from the hotel bar, every eye glued to us, trying to decide whether I want the ladylike Bella or not.
***
Artifice is the hottest restaurant in the city. It’s a hipster honey trap that lures them in with repurposed barn wood, smooth glass surfaces, and organic everything, but it’s also home of the best ribeye in the city and has a killer view from the private penthouse dining room.
“This view is incredible,” Bella says, gazing out the window at the skyline and the deep blue water stretching into the equally blue sky.
I admire her. In the weeks since everything happened, she has come alive before me. The circles under her eyes are gone, along with the hollows in her cheeks. She’s filling out, looking healthy and strong, and if possible, looking even more beautiful than before. “It really is.”
She blushes when she sees me looking at her, and turns her cheek into her shoulder. “I see you’re letting your gentleman show just a little.”
I smirk. “Only because you bit me.”
She reaches across the table and takes my hand. “Since it got us here, I have no regrets.”
“Where is ‘here’?” I ask, swirling my wine before taking a drink.
Bella narrows her eyes and bites back a smile. “Is that a trick question?”
“It’s a tricky question,” I admit, sitting up and resting my forearms on the table. “Our relationship started because my father told me to kidnap you, and now we’re out to dinner together. So, are you still my captive?”
Bella’s lips slip into a pout. “Are you trying to ask me if I want to role-play later?”
I nearly shiver at the thought and then quickly refocus my thoughts, which are rapidly turning dirty. “No, I’m asking who we are to one another.”
I never thought I would be the kind of man who wanted to define a relationship. Before Bella, I was fine with a long string of one-night stands and booty calls. I was happy just to have a warm body to help relieve the stress, but now, I can’t imagine being with any woman other than Bella. I can’t imagine not seeing her smiling up at me, her blue eyes bright and shining with laughter. I can’t imagine not wrapping my arms around her small waist and running my hands down her hourglass curves. In the short time we’ve known one another, I’ve fallen head over heels in love with her, and I have no idea if she feels the same way.
After all, I did kidnap her.
“That is complicated,” Bella says, grabbing the complimentary glass of ice water and taking a sip. “After all, you did kidnap me.”
I nod and tuck my hands in my lap so she won’t see my fingers shaking.
“But we’ve been through a lot since
